Easiest Kids Soccer Program for Churches, YMCAs & Leagues
Best, Most Fun Soccer for U4 and U6 (age 3 to 6)
No Referees, No Fields, No Uniforms and No Scheduling
All Kids Play - None on the Bench
Kids Play Our Practice Games Instead of Real Games
Meet at Same Time Once a Week for 40 Minutes
"Fun Leaders" Instead of Coaches
Great Way to Get Parents Involved with Your ProgramIf you want to try something that is easy, low cost, can help quickly increase involvement at your Church, Club or League, low stress (no Referees, fields. scheduling, or uniforms, and you don't even need coaches), and can get lots of parents involved, you might want to consider doing something like the "Soccer Fun for Ages 3, 4, 5 and 6" program Coach Doug did a few years ago for U3, U4, U5 and U6.
This approach is successful because it exposes young kids and their parents to soccer in a way that is fun for every kid, whether they are athletic or not, and fun and Non-Stressful for the parents. Using this approach, each kid gets hundreds of touches on the ball every time they meet. Coach Doug organized by ages (3, 4, 5 and 6) and the kids went to the area where their age group was. I got the idea for this from a soccer league in CA that used a similar program very successfully. Within 4 years they built their soccer league to 2,000 players.
Coach Doug did this when he lived in a small town in the FL panhandle and they had so many kids sign up that they had to cut off the sign ups because they didn't have enough parking. It was a huge success.
How Coach Doug Did It:
Doug's program did NOT have teams and they did NOT play real soccer matches, so there wasn't any scheduling. They met once a week, U3 and U4 at the same time and U5 and U6 at the same time, at the local park and played Coach Doug's Practice Games like Hit the Coach, Animal Soccer, Soccer Bees, Follow the Leader and Monster Invasion, some of which you can see on the Coach Doug U4 & U6 Soccer Video Clips (those games are also on SoccerHelp Premium). They didn't have "soccer fields" or even goals (although pop-up goals would be great).
They didn't have coaches - instead they had "Fun Leaders" because that sounds less intimidating to parents who haven't coached before, and it emphasizes that the idea is to have fun. All a Fun Leader did was to lead the Coach Doug Practice Games like Hit the Coach, Animal Soccer, Soccer Bees, Follow the Leader and Monster Invasion, which are very easy to learn. That is why so many parents volunteered to help (Doug had plenty of volunteers who he recruited from the parents who brought their kids). It was supposed to last 40 minutes but everyone was having so much fun they were there for an hour until they finally had to collect the balls and send everyone home. The YMCA and a church were the sponsors and they brought the balls (one ball per player) - the YMCA continued to own the balls so they can use them again this season. One ball per player is critical because so many of the Practice Games are 100% onball. I believe the YMCA charged about $40 per player and the players got a T-Shirt but not a ball. They met at a City park.
One thing that is important is to not let the big, aggressive kids dominate. Also, Do NOT use any "knock-out" or elimination games (none of Doug's games eliminate kids).
Do NOT play real games, even if some parents want to - that will actually have negative results with fewer touches and little kids will get knocked down by the bigger and more aggressive kids.
It is like a Soccer Carnival atmosphere - fun, no stress, easy-going. Doug started with 6 volunteer "Fun Leaders" and another 6 or 8 volunteered the first day without being asked. No hands are allowed in the play area, by kids, parents, siblings, or Fun Leaders - only feet can be used by everyone present. Doug had so many kids sign up that they had to cut off the sign ups because they didn't have enough parking, and Doug did this when he lived in a small FL town in the panhandle area (as I recall, they cut it off at 150 players so that should give you an idea of how popular this can be). In a larger city I think you could have 300-400 kids sign up, if you wanted that many.
At the last meeting of the program, they actually had a sort of "Soccer Carnival" with a cook-out, face painting and similar stuff. Balloon arches for the kids to run thru are also fun.
Every kid plays ALL THE TIME and none sit out. All the SoccerHelp and Coach Doug Practice Games are "Inclusive" - we don't use any elimination games and in most games every child has a ball and there are no lines. Our Practice Games are fun, teach important soccer skills, are easy to learn, and are self-teaching (the players learn by playing the games).
If you try this, please let me know how it goes and any ideas for improvement.
Feel free to let the volunteers use your Premium membership so they can learn the games they will lead as Fun Leaders, OR buy one Premium subscription and let the Fun Leaders share it - you have my permission to do that.